Was just thinking... imagine you're at work or school or something, and suddenly one of those little elastics in your mouth snaps. Do you carry extras around, or just wait till you get home? Seems kinda awkward either way, haha.
Honestly, I never bothered carrying extras around. Maybe I'm just lazy, but it always seemed like too much hassle to keep track of those tiny elastics. Plus, changing them in public bathrooms or at my desk felt kinda awkward anyway... I'd rather just wait till I got home and deal with it then.
But now that you mention it, maybe that's not the best approach? I mean, does waiting a few hours actually affect the treatment much? My ortho never really mentioned anything about that. Curious if anyone's ever asked their orthodontist about this directly.
I've actually asked my ortho about this exact thing because I was kinda paranoid at first, haha. She said that waiting a few hours once in a while isn't gonna ruin your treatment or anything, but consistently leaving them off for long stretches can slow things down. She recommended just keeping a little baggie of extras in my wallet or pocket—honestly, once you get used to it, it's not too bad. And trust me, no one's really paying attention if you swap them out quickly at your desk... everyone's too busy staring at their phones anyway.
That's good advice overall, but have you considered that swapping bands at your desk might not always be practical or hygienic? I mean, desks aren't exactly the cleanest places, and sometimes you're stuck in meetings or situations where discreetly changing bands isn't really an option. Maybe a better approach would be timing your band changes around breaks or lunch when you can properly wash your hands first. Also, keeping extras in your wallet is smart, but wallets can get pretty grimy too—maybe a small clean container or case would be better?
I had a patient once who kept losing bands midday and just gave up replacing them until evening. It didn't ruin their treatment completely, but it definitely slowed things down more than they expected. So yeah, occasional delays won't wreck everything, but it's probably best to minimize how often it happens if you want to stay on track.
Yeah, good point about wallets being grimy... I used to stash mine in an empty mint tin—cheap and clean enough. Still awkward changing bands mid-shift tho, coworkers thought I was sneaking candy, lol.
